A Theater of Ghosts: The Japanese Noh Drama from Medieval Japan to the Contemporary World Stage
Week 1 | June 27–July 1 | Smith Memorial Library Classroom | Ages: 14+
This one-week course introduces participants to the Japanese noh theater, among the world's oldest continuously performed dramatic forms. An art with roots in ritual commemoration, it is often considered a theater of ghosts: the dead are summoned to the stage to tell their stories of loss and posthumous wandering. Participants will discuss the development of noh in its medieval context; explore formal elements of script and music of the genre; and read through three traditional and one very recent play to explore the noh's relationship to memory and memorialization over time.
Class Times
Students should come to class prepared with the following materials:
- Daphne Marlatt's The Gull (Talon Books, 2009), ISBN-13: 978-0-88922-616-6
Elizabeth Oyler
B.A., Japanese, University of Pittsburgh; M.A., Japanese, University of Wisconsin, PhD, Japanese, Stanford University. Twenty years' teaching experience at public and private universities; currently teaching Japanese literature, classical language, and performing arts at the University of Pittsburgh. Student of Heike biwa performance.
